“If a fascist is merely someone who opposes democracy, then let me be clear: I oppose democracy — and have always opposed democracy,” Jason Lee Van Dyke wrote.
That was a part of a lengthy response I received after I’d emailed the North Texas lawyer to ask a few questions because on Nov. 11, he filed paperwork to become a Republican candidate for the open Justice of the Peace, Precinct 1 seat in Wise County.
I wrote about Van Dyke for The Barbed Wire back in August, breaking the news that the attorney — who has a white nationalist tattoo, a history of involvement with far-right extremist groups and of using racist, and threatening language — was working as a court-appointed defense attorney for primarily clients of color. Then, a few weeks ago, I saw a Facebook post announcing he intended to run for public office. His candidacy was first reported in the Wise County Messenger, but the article didn’t include his associations with far-right extremist groups, the $100 million libel lawsuit he once filed after being called a Nazi and a pedophile, or the alleged “assassination plot” that killed his accuser-slash-legal-opponent. Nor did it include the fact that Van Dyke once pleaded no contest to making a false police report and was sentenced to 24 months’ deferred adjudication.
Considering that history, as a reporter, it seemed in the best interest of voters that I write an update on Van Dyke’s new political aspirations — and his political views. So, I sent over an email asking about his platform and his X account, where he has repeatedly declared himself a fascist, in addition to posting racist threats and slurs, including the n-word and an image of a noose.
He replied with his campaign platform, and a noted objection: “With respect to your other questions, your last article proved that you aren’t going to tell the truth anyway so — while I am happy to discuss my platform and my candidacy — your other questions are a waste of my time.”
Then followed a three-part answer, with a biting preface: “This is a stupid question because the word ‘fascist’ is meaningless. It’s a generic political insult.”
Fascism is not, of course, meaningless. As defined by places like the Council on Foreign Relations and the Holocaust Memorial Museum, it is an ultranationalist, authoritarian political philosophy with elements of militarism and totalitarianism. It opposes individual rights, equality, and democratic government. It doesn’t have a stellar track record on press freedoms, either.
This shorthand definition helps decode another part of what Van Dyke wrote to me — that he is a fascist “to the extent that democracy is inconsistent with the Constitution.”
Van Dyke continued: “The Constitution establishes — and commands that the states — have a republican form of government (not a democratic one). Please note my use of the small letter “r” and “d” in the previous sentence. The electoral college, the makeup of the Senate, and the manner of selection and confirmation of every federal judge in America is undemocratic. I do not wish to make these things ‘more democratic’ as some have proposed.”
This became a talking point of ultra conservatives around President Donald Trump’s loss in 2020, arguing that American democracy has become too democratic — with some going so far as to seek the repeal of the 19th amendment, which grants women the right to vote. Except, the U.S. is both a republic and a democracy, one that has become more multi-racial and inclusive through the passage of amendments to the Constitution, which our founders considered imperfect and created with amendment in mind.
American history aside, Van Dyke has a long history of referring to himself as a fascist online — references that aren’t as cloaked in the Constitution as this wave of talking points, are nowhere to be seen on his official campaign Facebook page, and have largely been scrubbed from his social media presence. (I also asked whether he was banned from X, to which he said: “No. I didn’t enjoy it anymore.”)
In a now-deleted blog post following Trump’s election victory in 2024, Van Dyke wrote that he was “tickled to death that we are going to see fascism in the United States as I have been a proponent of American fascism on my Twitter and Facebook for some time.”
He continued: “I could write a whole article on American fascism but I view it basically as a return to the Constitution as it existed at the time of the founding but with a few important tweeks [sic]: (a) a guarantee of a few additional human rights so that the worst impulses of fascism can be checked; (b) citizenship by blood rather than by land; and (c) a guarantee of one-party rule by the right.”
However, in his email to The Barbed Wire, Van Dyke hedged.
“If a fascist is someone who: (a) believes in putting America first; (b) believes ‘hate speech’ is protected by the 1st Amendment; (c) believes the 2nd Amendment includes the right to own ‘assault weapons’; (d) believes that the USA should have borders and that illegal aliens should be deported; (e) believes that there are only two genders; and (f) voted for Donald Trump in 2016, 2020, and 2024 — then yes — that’s exactly what I am,” he wrote.
Anyone familiar with National Socialism, the close kin to fascism also known as Nazism, will recognize the scrubbing of select words from his earlier post.
Don’t just take my word for it.
“His response reads like he’s been called what he wants to be called and is trying to backtrack because he knows the connotations that fascism carries,” said Luke Baumgartner, a Research Fellow at the Program on Extremism at George Washington University. “The statement ‘citizenship by blood rather than by land’ is basically half of the ‘blood and soil’ line we’re all so used to hearing from neo-Nazis.”
As The Barbed Wire reported in August, Van Dyke has an extensive history of personal involvement with far-right extremist groups, which he calls the “dissident right.” He was at one time the national chairman of the Proud Boys, a neo-fascist militant group whose members and leaders were involved in the Jan, 6, 2021 insurrection of the U.S. Capitol. As we previously reported, he also once attempted to join The Base, a neo-Nazi accelerationist organization Van Dyke later claimed he was infiltrating because he believed the man with whom he was engaged in that lengthy — and vicious — $100 million legal feud was somehow involved.
In recent years, I’ve reported that Van Dyke has attended a Texas neo-Nazi conference, hosted members of the white nationalist neo-Nazi group Patriot Front at his home, gotten a tattoo of an eagle with a Patriot Front slogan on his shoulder, trained Patriot Front members to fight, and participated in their private chat room under a pseudonym. He has also represented members of white nationalist and neo-Nazi groups, including the leader of a neo-Nazi fight club in North Texas that is linked to Patriot Front and is a part of a larger network of “active clubs,” one of which has posted photos of Van Dyke with members of the group.
Neo-fascist white nationalist groups like Patriot Patriot Front and the Aryan Freedom Network promote the idea of a homogenous, white ethnostate in the United States and view multiculturalism, immigration, and diversity as existential threats to this vision. Historically, these are views shared by German Nazis, who established a centralized one-party dictatorship, suppressed their opposition with violence, and demonized racial outgroups. Their rise shattered Europe, resulting in World War II and the Holocaust. Today, historians see troubling parallels, noting the rise of far-right ultranationalist politics in the United States and abroad.
Regarding his platform, Van Dyke wrote that he’s running on his legal knowledge (“as of right now, I am the only attorney running for this position”); to hold scammers and debt-buyers to account in honor of his late mother (“I will never forget all the scam calls I had to deal with people – who were all pure evil — trying to scam a sweet and innocent woman suffering from dementia into handing over her credit card information”); and to ensure people know they’re being sued (“If elected, I will be a stickler when it comes to service of legal process.”)
The seat Van Dyke hopes to fill is a lower-court position that handles minor crimes, small claims cases, marriage licenses, and a number of other administrative duties. While it is a judicial position that involves legal service and small claims debt cases, it does not have criminal jurisdiction over scam calls. It only has civil jurisdiction over allegedly fraudulent debts under $20,000 that are challenged.
Two other candidates will be opposing Van Dyke in the Republican primary: Bill Hogg, a retired law enforcement officer, and Edualdo Villa Jr., a resident of Decatur who did not respond to The Barbed Wire’s inquiries and about whom little information was publicly available.
“I am certain that the vast majority of Wise County voters, specifically in this case Precinct 1 voters, are going to research to their satisfaction the candidates in this race,” Hogg told The Barbed Wire. “And I’m convinced that they’ll be informed voters, and they will vote according to their beliefs and their value system and what’s important to them.”
James Duncan, chairman of the Wise County Democrats, told The Barbed Wire that as of this writing, no one had filed to run in the Democratic party primary for the seat, meaning that whoever wins the Republican primary will be the presumed Justice of the Peace.
Regarding the possibility of a fascist winning the election, Hogg told The Barbed Wire: “If a candidate who describes themselves as a fascist were to win, that would be concerning to me because I don’t think the majority of the population in Wise County would agree with that philosophy.”